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Select committee inquiry

FCO budget and capacity inquiry

Closed

Foreign Affairs Committee · Opened 9 September 2015 · Closed 3 May 2017

Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

What the inquiry looked at

“Government response published The FCO and the 2015 Spending Review: Government response The FCO and the 2015 Spending Review: Government response (PDF 67 KB) The main purpose of the session will be to assess the FCO’s strategy for putting into practice the Foreign Secretary’s vision for the future FCO, given the likelihood of budget cuts under the forthcoming Spending Review. The Committee will also review the FCO’s expenditure and performance in 2014-15, taking the FCO Annual Report for 2014-15 as a starting point.”

The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.

What the government said

The government responded on 11 February 2016.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.

The Foreign Secretary's letter says the Spending Review settlement protects the FCO's budget in real terms, in line with the Committee's recommendation to protect it, while noting efficiency savings and flat non-ODA funds.

  • The overall resource budget "will rise from £1.1 billion in 2015/16 to £1.24 billion by 2019/20", but non-ODA funds "will remain flat" and £53 million of efficiency savings are "required" by 2019–20.
  • On language skills, the Foreign Secretary agrees that Target Level Attainment figures "must improve" (38% rising to 40%), stating that increased investment in language training and other measures "will achieve this".
  • On human rights, the letter states that human rights work "should not be the preserve of just a few, specialised staff" and is "the responsibility of all British diplomats".
  • The Foreign Secretary has "commissioned an internal review of the FCO" that will set out a vision of the organisation "by 2020".

Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error

How the inquiry ran

Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 9 September 2015 to its close on 3 May 2017.

  1. Oral evidence 15 Sep 2015
  2. Report 23 Oct 2015
  3. Government response 11 Feb 2016

What it recommended

The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 1st Report - The FCO and the 2015 Spending Review ↗ on parliament.uk.

Evidence

Oral evidence sessions 1